Quotables

"It would be good . . . if he could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly."

Woody Allen on President Barack Obama. Allen expressed frustration with Republicans who have tried to block the president's agenda.

"I sinned against God, my wife, and my family. . . . I am so shamed to have hurt those I love."

U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., on an affair he had with a staffer. Souder, announced that he would resign his House seat in the wake of the affair.

"Labor is the new aristocracy."

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Former journalist and current Democratic Senate candidate Mickey Kaus on the power of government-employee unions over elected officials. Kaus, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in a primary, is a liberal who challenges party positions on immigration and unions. "People realize that the government machine is run for the unions," he said about public-sector unions. "The libraries can close, but you can't cut those pensions."

"To see resistance from a woman means a lot."

Wajiha Al-Huwaidar, a Saudi women's rights activist, after a young Saudi woman attacked a religious policeman who was questioning her for walking through an amusement park with a young man. The policeman had to go to the hospital with bruises to his face and body. "This is just the beginning and there will be more resistance," predicted Al-Huwaidar.

"I have to sign the checks on the front, not just the back."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the difference between being mayor and being a union organizer, his previous job. "You have 10 cookies in the cookie jar," he said of the city's budget crisis, "and every interest wants all 10."

"Traveling for tourism today is a right."

European Union commissioner Antonio Tajani on an EU plan to subsidize vacations for people who cannot afford them.